Living by a simple maxim helped one mortgage professional come away with the lender underwriter of the year award at last year’s Canadian Mortgage Awards
There’s no single solution to finding success in the mortgage industry. Striving for personal and professional advancement, establishing strong relationships with colleagues and peers, and a commitment to the betterment of the mortgage industry all certainly help – but identifying the key ingredient to a productive career is easier said than done.
For Darren Schienbein (pictured), though, the road to a Canadian Mortgage Award in 2024 began with a simple maxim: go through each day remembering to smile.
The CWB Optimum Mortgage underwriter, who came away with last year’s lender underwriter of the year (alternative lending) award, told Canadian Mortgage Professional that keeping the right attitude to work had been a key focus over the years.
“I heard one of my favourite football players who retired this year,” he said, “and in his speech, one of the things he said was that a thing he’s taken from his time is just to smile. Smile when you see someone, because you never know who’s going to need that smile that day.
“Any email, any phone call, is an opportunity to brighten somebody’s day. Winning the award is validation that that works.”
Brokering experience proved a launchpad for underwriting success
Of course, an essential part of operating on either side of the mortgage transaction is the broker-underwriter relationship – and it helped Schienbein that he’d worked as a broker prior to crossing over into the lending space, an experience that gave him an invaluable insight into what brokers prioritize from their underwriting partners.
“As a broker, you get to see that end client and how stressful it can be for them,” he explained. “It’s the biggest financial decision in most people’s lives: buying a house, refinancing, or you’re helping somebody who’s in trouble or needs money to help a sick family member, or whatever the case is.
We’re proud to have The Canada Mortgage and Financial Group as a partner for the Lender Underwriter of the Year (Specialist – Alternative and Private) category at the 2025 Canadian Mortgage Awards.
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) April 8, 2025
Full list of Excellence Awardees: https://t.co/0IoUU4axCF#MortgageAwardsCA pic.twitter.com/F0fIJno6RF
“Being a broker, you know how personal it is for the person at the end. So being an underwriter you’re not just looking at an application for a broker. You’re looking at somebody’s life and trying to help somebody in their life.”
That prior experience as a broker makes it easier to look at the whole picture of a deal from the underwriting side, Schienbein said, instead of simply considering the raw numbers and whether that client fits into a specific box.
Not everyone is a triple-A client with a lucrative job, he added – and his work on either side of the transaction has proven a big asset in helping solve the “puzzle” of securing borrowing needs for those who don’t meet those criteria.
“Life happens to lots of people and being able to see what lenders want to see with those types of deals, as a broker, really helped,” he said. “Now as an underwriter, seeing what the brokers are presenting and being able to work with the brokers, it’s nice to have had that experience as a broker because then you can see it from both sides.”
The 2025 Canadian Mortgage Awards are just around the corner
You can still register for this year’s CMAs, which will open with a cocktail reception followed by the much-anticipated awards ceremony and dinner banquet, closing out with the chance to celebrate with industry peers on the dancefloor.
Excellence Awardees – the nominees for each of this year’s prestigious prizes – have already been revealed, with overall winners in a range of categories including broker, lender, and service provider awards to be announced at the May 1 ceremony at Toronto’s Congress Centre.
Entertainment will be provided throughout the evening by aerial duo Alexandra LeGendre and Eman Hillawi as well as world-renowned circus performer Bella Magic, while five-piece band Soulfire will bring the house down after the ceremony with their distinctive style.
Registration is simple: just click here to sign up. You can find out all the important info about the event – including venue details, award categories and a full agenda – here.
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